Examining the effects of firearm lethality and aggressors’ intentions to kill on injurious firearm violence at K-12 schools

• In Event: Weapons and gun violence

Abstract

An individual’s intention to kill and the firearm’s deadly properties are the two predominant theoretical explanations for lethality during assaultive situations. Previous research has struggled to provide comprehensive measures of these concepts and empirically disentangle the unique contribution of these effects. This study addresses these issues using The American School Shooting Study (TASSS) database, which allows for the innovative observation of fatalities in school shootings (n=329) in the United States from 1990 to 2016. We examined indicators of firearm lethality (e.g., power, type) and developed a multi-dimensional construct that captures indicators of school shooters' sustained determination to kill their victims. In addition, we accounted for other salient influences on gunshot mortality, including situational factors, neighborhood context, and emergency medical response. Our findings indicated that there are 11 different categorizations of school shooters’ intentionality, with a plurality having a strong intention to kill. Importantly, the intent to kill and the weapon's instrumentality were both statistically significant predictors of lethality across various models. However, the firearm’s deadly characteristics had the most pronounced influence, and the shooters’ intent failed to diminish these effects appreciably. Therefore, an all-encompassing theoretical model addressing and preventing school shootings should incorporate both these aspects.

Authors

• Brent Klein, University of South Carolina

• Cory Schnell, University of South Carolina

• Steven Chermak, Michigan State University

• Joshua Freilich, John Jay College of Criminal Justice